To those who have lived in this community for a few decades, the disappearance of Suzie Streeter, Stacy McCall and Sherrill Levitt feels much more recent.

And it’s not just that the passage of time makes the years tick by faster, though that certainly plays a role. It’s that the disappearance of the three women was so jarring that Springfield has never truly recovered.

This week, experts have explained how an event like the three women’s disappearance can change the psyche of a community. For many in Springfield, it was the first time the town seemed potentially dangerous. Parents started holding onto children a little tighter and placed a few more restrictions on outdoor play time.

An event like this disappearance is too unusual to actually signify a cultural change. Springfield didn’t become a big city in the early morning hours of June 7, 1992, but many surely felt like it did.

While Springfield has grown significantly over those 25 years, there remains a sense of small-town life and community. We were reminded of that three years ago, when the city experienced another tragedy.

The abduction of 10-year-old Hailey Owens was another shock. Despite the disappearance of Streeter, McCall and Levitt 22 years earlier, and brutal crimes in between, this still felt like a place where that sort of thing is not supposed to happen.

Hundreds took to the street after Hailey’s death. To honor the little girl, to remember her, and to hope that we could always protect our neighbors.

Of course, we can’t protect everyone.

But what we can do is remember those we lose — to honor their memory, and in some cases, keep searching.

Lt. Culley Wilson, with the Springfield Police Department, explained the importance of that community memory for the purpose of solving the case of the three missing women.

He worried about the community losing that memory, the way many know nothing or little about the 1932 Young Brothers Massacre in which six law enforcement officers were killed. There have also been unsolved homicides and missing person cases that remain open. Not all stick in our collective memory.

“That’s kind of the fear,” he said. “As more time goes by, this case gets colder and colder.”

We should all take that as part of our mission. Don’t let this community forget Suzie Streeter, Stacy McCall or Sherrill Levitt.

For now, we remember in part to help police solve the case. We hope someday that the case will be solved, and we’ll remember them because they were our neighbors, and that still means something to us.